The beloved singer, actor, dancer and dance teacher of Pontic Hellenism breathed his last today in Thessaloniki, Achilleas Vasiliadisat the age of 72 spreading sadness to all the Pontians in Greece and abroad.

THE Achilleas Vasiliadis he had spoken in 2017 to the APE-MPE Agency magazine and to Makis Mouratidis about his experiences, and as he mentioned, he identified with the Pontic tradition:

“I lost my homeland, I cried and it hurt. I’m getting sick and getting sick, I’m inhaling… (I lost my homeland, I cried and it hurt. I cry and miss, I can’t forget). This song – moiroloi – captures the pain and lamentation of the Pontus Greeks for the massacres, the destruction, the looting, the violent uprooting and shows how deep are the memories of the ancestral homes. This song is interwoven with the excellent performance, in the first performance, of Achilleas Vassiliadis – an artist (singer, dancer, choir teacher and actor) who has been dealing with traditional Pontic song, Pontic culture and tradition for almost 50 years.

He speaks of the new generation of Pontians and is not afraid, as he tells us, of the disappearance or weakening of Pontian history, culture and identity because the germ is resistant.

Visits to the homeland are a part that Achilleas Vassiliadis has been experiencing for many years with countless trips to Pontus. “I feel the absolute need to be in my place, in my homeland”, he tells us, and describes as the most moving moments, those of visiting the villages and houses of his grandparents and the stories he heard there. He talks about a typical scene on the fifteenth of August, in Panagia Sumela, when Greeks and Turks danced in a large circle to the sounds of the lyre. He talks about an old Turk, Salih, who, he says, taught him the Pontus, and ends the conversation with a soulful statement that every trip back home brings you closer to yourself and your true identity and opens a a new horizon of perspective and thought, always with the memories engraved as reflected in the lyrics of his song: “One more time in my life, It’s like a well in my yard, let me drink water and wash my clothes. I lost my burials, I buried them and buried them, I restore them and I carry them like a psycho…” (One more time in my life, in the well in my yard, let me drink some water and wash my eyes. I lost my graves, those I buried I did not forget, ours I remember again and I carry them in my soul).

Achillea, you have been involved for many years with Pontic song, theater and in general with the preservation of Pontic culture. How was this occupation of yours born?

I don’t know if I can explain my relationship with traditional Pontic song and I certainly can’t prove it. Time, however, and history itself, will judge this in the end. I understand of course that I have identified with the tradition now. And because of age of course! I tried to identify with the tradition. I worked for it with all my soul, and I think I have succeeded up to a point. This is what I learned and this was my experience from a very young age.

Who was your “guide” along the path you followed?

I faithfully follow in the footsteps of those people who defined the tradition and who contained high caliber aesthetic values. Of those people who raised the tradition and the culture of the Pontians. Observing and studying them over the years and trying to walk in their footsteps has been and will be my concern. What I have offered, as I said, will be judged. And certainly not by me myself.

Do you think this tradition can be maintained over time?

The tradition of a place is perhaps one of the greatest spiritual – and not only – capitals in our lives. Especially for a race like ours, which has such a volume of culture and civilization. The transmission from generation to generation is what keeps it alive. Of course, through this process of transference, alterations are reasonable. Distancing and moving away from the core is also something that is happening and is becoming more and more distinct. Different, varied interpretations and expressions over time are inevitable – though not necessarily so. However, I don’t want to speak flatly or attribute anything to anyone. Even in that part of the youth that has been so far removed from the traditional song, from the Pontic culture.

It is a reality and I accept it without anger. After all, we all have our responsibility, and each one of his “post”.

But is there interest from the new generation in the Pontic tradition, dance and song?

There is a very large part of young people, and this is where I choose to focus, who know much better than me and have studied traditional music and our culture with other resources. People with studies on our music and the history of Pontic Hellenism. Young people with serious knowledge. Serious perception and judgment. People called to protect our memory. To defend our history and carry such a huge burden on their backs.

Are you afraid of the eventual disappearance or weakening of Pontic culture and history?

I was never afraid, nor am I afraid of the possible “disappearance” or even the weakening of our history and our culture. Of our identity. The “germ” is resistant. I know there are those people who will preserve and strengthen our tradition. I saw it happen in front of my eyes for many years, inside “Parakath”. I saw it in the faces of the children and a feral youth, in the many years of pan-European youth dance festivals that I have the honor to present. I saw the youth who wanted to learn and succeeded. Either through dancing and singing or through their academic career, or all together! I know and am absolutely convinced that this storehouse of our traditional sensibility and special history will be protected.

You visited Pontus many times. What is it that draws you back home?

What for some people was a lifelong dream, even just once, to visit the Pontus, I was lucky enough to experience it and in fact for many continuous years through the professional relationship that had now been created. But the condition was from the first moment – ​​and it will be until the last – the same: My absolute need to be in my place. In the homeland…. On the one hand, there was the professional part, but that would not have been served at all if it were not for this mental need of mine. This love that drew me there.

What are your experiences from these trips?

Every time I went to Pontus, whether on a professional or personal level, the experience was always unique. I reflected what I heard from the ancients. From their stories and songs. I found the villages of my grandparents. I found some of the houses. Besides, the descriptions were accurate. I got to know our history up close. I never felt tired with these trips. There was always the element of pleasant surprise and always something new to discover. There was always some new story being made.

Would you like to tell us about a special moment?

Etched in my mind is a scene… August fifteenth. Panagia Sumela. Nikos Michaelidis and Egin play the lyre, and Adem sings. We’re caught up and dancing in a big circle. All together. An old man has been watching us since we danced… emotional… I went to him. I hugged him and kissed him. And he said to me: “Do you know how many years this millet has been playing and dancing all the time…?” (Do you know how many years this generation has been meeting and dancing together like this?).

How did the locals welcome you back home? Have you made friends with them?

So in the homeland I made close friends… Friends who are waiting for me and whom I can’t wait to see again. Friends who will drink our tea in the Maidan of Trebizond. There I met, in the mid-80s, the old man Salih, who basically taught me Pontus, Argyroupoli, and I owe him a lot… Everything… This inexhaustible old man who wrote his own history and I was lucky to be present at some of them. I will be grateful to him for a lifetime and will sing for as long as I can the endless couplets he taught me.

I would like you to describe in two words your feelings from these trips?

Each trip to the homeland brought me closer and closer to myself. Closer to my true identity, and at the same time it opened a new horizon of perspective and thought. A cleaner and perhaps more romantic thought and perception. And finally, on this journey, the road leads you to yourself.

They will say the last goodbye to Achilleas Vassiliadis Wednesday January 8th relatives, friends, but also people who loved him in Messiano Pella at the Holy Church of Agios Panteleimonos, at 14:00.